Browser Support Comparison

Now, before going too deep into HTML5, let’s examine the limitations of the browsers we’re dealing with: IE7, IE8, Firefox 3.6, Safari 4, and Chrome 5. To be more precise, we’ll be looking at the WebKit (Safari and Chrome), Gecko (Firefox), and Trident (IE) browser engines, as these are actually performing the rendering. The browser is just a shell for the rendering engine.

Let’s start with the best of the bunch, shall we? WebKit, which powers Chrome and Safari, is king of the heap when it comes to HTML5 support. Offering all but GeoLocation support when it comes to HTML5’s web app offerings (although it should be noted that MobileSafari can do GeoLocation), handling embedded content (<audio>, <video>, and <canvas>) with flying colors, and pretty strong form support (Chrome actually scoots ahead in this regard), this is the browser to aim at to start.

Next up, there’s Gecko, which powers Firefox. Firefox 3.6 is the version that adds in a bunch of HTML5 support, so you’ll want to make sure you’re fully up to date. Firefox also excels at HTML5’s web apps offerings and can handle all of the embedded content, but it completely falls short when it comes to forms support.

Lastly, there’s Trident, powering Internet Explorer. Besides a few basic web apps abilities, IE completely fails at HTML5 support. Microsoft is hard at work on IE9, which is showcasing some HTML5 abilities as a big selling point, but it still lags far behind the WebKit browsers and Firefox.

For a more complete rundown on the support offered by each browser, take a look at the article, “Comparison of layout engines (HTML5),” or the Web Designer’s Checklist. You can even hit up FindMeByIP.com to see what your current browser of choice is capable of.

Tags: cheat-sheet, flash

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 7:00 am and is filed under Design Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.